Statistical Characterization Of Seismic Process Extremes In An Intraplate Area – Case Study: João Câmara – Rn - Brazil

The aim of this work is to make a brief discussion of methods to estimate the parameters of the Generalized Pareto distribution (GPD). In order to illustrate the methods some parameters were estimated for the GPD, considering a sequence of intraplate earthquakes which occurred in the city of João Câmara in the northeastern region of Brazil. This region was continuously monitored for two years (1987 and 1988). In order to estimate seismic hazard in this area we address the following techniques: Moments, Maximum Likelihood, Biased Probability Weighted Moments, Unbiased Probability Weighted Moments, Mean Power Density Divergence, Median, Pickands, Maximum Penalized Likelihood, Maximum Goodness-of-Fit and the Maximum Entropy, the focus of this manuscript. Based on the threshold of 1.5 mb was estimated the seismic hazard for the city, and estimated the level of return to earthquakes of magnitudes 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 mb and a 5.2 mb earthquake which occurred in November 1986.